My Laugh Comes Last

My Laugh Comes Last - 1977The safest bank in the world ' they called it - at least, the Press did, when they gave it world-wide publicity on its opening. And Farrell Brannigan thought it was a pretty good name too : he'd built it and safeguarded it with the help of a brilliant electronics expert. Foolproof. But the man who planned on breaking into the bank was no fool - he was a ghost from Brannigan's past, with a king-size grudge... a long time enemy with a pathological craving for revenge. Blackmail and murder were just games to him - and before long, a whole lot of other dirty things were crawling out of the past...

Extract 1:I had fooled around with a lot of girls, but during the past few years I had no time for fooling. Now, not working under such pressure, I was ripe for a woman. I wondered about her as we walked side by side down the fairway. There was something about her that warned me she was no easy, casual lay. She had a ‘hands-off’ air about her that made her much more intriguing to me than any other girl I had known.

Extract 2:‘Larry, we both are relying on you. I brought you from nothing. Don’t you think you can return favour for favour?’‘I ask again, Mr. Brannigan, what thing has developed into a dangerous mess?’A faint flush came to his heavy face. He sat upright. He was no longer the father figure, but the tough President, up against opposition.‘We’re wasting time, son!’ There was a snap in his voice. ‘You know very well what I’m talking about! Don’t fence with me! What has happened at the bank?’Then I knew, just by looking at the hard eyes, that Farrell Brannigan was involved in the bank break-in. By now, I was shockproof, and my mind was working actively.‘You needn’t worry about the bank, Mr. Brannigan,’ I said. ‘Four evil men are trapped in the vault. There is no possible way for them to get out unless I get them out. I guaranteed to build the safest bank in the world…it is the safest bank in the world.’